These are excerpts from the author’s book “Deep,” which contains eight of his small books published in the form of Wisdom Literature covering different aspects of life: Facing troublemakers, dealing with pain, personal financial issues, gastronomy, reading, criticizing, inspiring, and feeling always good to go.

Series 2: You Are Always Good to Go.

Week 20: It Is Never a War

• It is more practical and helpful to handle difficult situations as a game rather than a battle. You will be more serene and might even enjoy such situations.

• Even in the middle of a war, before thinking of using illegal weapons, make sure that you have effectively utilized any legal weapons at your disposal.

• Using illegal weapons in a war will not necessarily give you an advantage over your enemy. It could complicate your position and lead to disastrous consequences.

• In disputes, do not in your rush get excited and use the term “weapons”; they are just “tools”, and by using them intelligently, you could achieve better results than a soldier could do using weapons in a real battle.

• When voices rise inside you during a critical situation about the necessity of using illegal means, do not rush to accept them. This is most likely a sign of weakness or confusion rather than exceptional circumstances calling for the violation of basic principles.

• There are no good tools or bad tools. It is all about selecting the right tool at the right time and using it wisely.

• Attempting to use illegal tools in any kind of dispute is of course unethical. Quite often it looks much more like a lazy act to find a shortcut to end the dispute rather than being a deliberate act to bypass ethics.

• Declaring war in normal daily conflicts, or rushing to accept others’ declarations of war, is mostly a sign of agitation that reveals the devil inside you. Do your best to avoid satisfying that deceitfully perilous tendency.

• When others insist on behaving toward you as if at war, maintain your calm—but it is important to show them that you are completely ready for war.

• You are OK as long as you are not captured; but remember: confinement is not only behind bars.

• Illegal means are not magic tools you use when you are desperate to guarantee reaching your goals. They have harmful effects on you and the opponent in equal measure. And they are not necessarily less damaging to the initiator.

• People tending to use illegal means are not necessarily smart. Nevertheless, you should be more alert with them.

Quite often it looks to be a fine line between what is legal and what is illegal. We should strive to make borders clearer rather than utilizing the gray area for our interests.